Inquiry into the Origin

DELAFIELD, John, Jr. An Inquiry into the Origin of the Antiquities of America. With an Appendix, Containing Notes, and "A View of the Causes of the Superiority of the Men of the Northern Over Those of the Southern Hemisphere." By James Lakey, M.D. New York: Published for Subscribers, by J.C. Colt, 1839. Quarto. 142pp. plus 10 lithographed plates (5 colored) and 18-foot lithograph folding frontispiece. Original gilt pictorial cloth, a.e.g. Expertly rebacked with original spine laid down, else a very good copy. Howes D-226. Sabin 19333. PIlling 1012 (note). Field Catalogue 509. An amazing work of comparative mythology and anthropology. In his pursuit of an explanation for the origin of American races, Delafield undertakes a comparative analysis of American and Asiatic dialects and anatomical features, with frequent and detailed considerations of creation and deluge myths. The frontispiece alone is a remarkable achievement. It opens to a length of about eighteen feet and reproduces virtually 1:1 the Botturini Codex, now in the Museo Nacional de Anthropologica in Mexico City. The codex depicts a visual record of the entrance into America of the Aztecs, commencing with their departure from an island, through their slow journey southward to Anahuac. It recounts racial glories of mythic stature, and civilizations long vanished. This work exists with two imprints, the other being Cincinnati, Burgess & Co. Howes relegates to the Cincinnati issue the status of "anr. issue," with no explicit statement of priority. As early as the Field sale, the frontispiece was noted as very scarce.…